Crayon Pop
–present | label = *Pony Canyon}} | associated_acts = Strawberry Milk | current_members = | past_members = | website = |title = Korean name |hangul = |rr = Keureyong Pap |mr = K'ŭreyong P'ap }} Crayon Pop (Hangul: 크레용팝) is a five-member South Korean girl group formed in 2012 under Chrome Entertainment. The group consists of Geummi, Ellin, Choa, Way and Soyul. Crayon Pop officially debuted on 19 July 2012 with their performance of "Saturday Night" on Mnet's M! Countdown. Their first EP, Crayon Pop 1st Mini Album, was released on 18 July. This album was not a commercial success, and when "Dancing Queen" was released in October, Crayon Pop had few opportunities to promote on music shows. Instead, they promoted themselves through a web series, Crayon Pop TV, and through guerrilla performances on the streets of Seoul. This helped increase their fanbase, including their male fans called "Pop-jeossi". Following the release of "Bar Bar Bar" in June 2013, Crayon Pop's unique stage outfits and choreography drew interest and their popularity rose. As "Bar Bar Bar" went viral, it began to climb the Korean digital music charts, eventually reaching the upper positions of most major real time chart listings. Eight weeks after release, it reached number 1 on ''Billboard'''s K-Pop Hot 100 for the first time. "Bar Bar Bar" won first place on Music Bank on 30 August, and also earned Crayon Pop numerous awards, including New Rising Star at the Golden Disk Awards, the Hot Trend Award at the MelOn Music Awards, and Best New Female Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. Crayon Pop has held several solo concerts in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, and has also performed in other countries including China, Australia, and the United States. In June and July 2014, the group was the opening act for Lady Gaga's ArtRave: The Artpop Ball concert tour in twelve cities across North America. Crayon Pop's sixth single, "Uh-ee", was released on 1 April 2014, and Strawberry Milk, a sub-unit consisting of twins Choa and Way, debuted with The 1st Mini Album on 15 October. A mini album was released in Japan on 19 November, and the group will officially debut there in early 2015. History Pre-debut The group was initially named Hurricane Pop and consisted of members Serang (Yang Se-hyeon), Geummi (Baek Bo-ram), Ellin (Kim Min-young), Choa (Heo Min-jin), and Soyul (Park Hye-kyeong). Chrome Entertainment's CEO, Hwang Hyun Chang, did not consider candidates who were taller than 165 cm or had a sexy image, because he wanted a group of ordinary girls. Soyul was the first member to be accepted, and had formerly been part of a short-lived K-pop duo with Bob Girls' Jina, called Chic'6 Muscats. Geummi, who had worked in a hair transplant clinic, was the next to join. Serang, under the name Mari, had formerly been the leader of the disbanded girl group Coin Jackson. Ellin, who had previously been a fitting model, was referred to Chrome Entertainment by Chrome's dance choreographer and was accepted after her third audition. Choa was recommended to the company by her younger twin sister, Way (Heo Min-seon). Way, the main vocalist of indie band N.Dolphin, had been invited to audition but was unable to as her band was currently promoting an album. Singer Bumkey was involved in the audition process and also supervised the group's vocal training. As Hurricane Pop, the group recorded "Bing Bing". In January 2012, they performed the song live in Hangzhou, China, and a performance was filmed for the Chinese television drama Curry Campus. A music video for "Bing Bing" was filmed in February, but in April, Serang left the group in order to pursue an acting career. After Serang's departure, Way was given another chance to join the group and she left N.Dolphin. Shortly before their debut, the group's name was changed to Crayon Pop because Chrome Entertainment thought the name Hurricane Pop would be insensitive in light of Japan's tsunamis. The girls' stage names were chosen by the company's CEO, although a few of the members had input into the choice. 2012: Debut with Crayon Pop 1st Mini Album and "Dancing Queen" Crayon Pop began their promotions in Japan in May 2012, using their time there to film music videos for "Bing Bing". The group released both the Korean and Japanese music videos on 24 June. The music video for their debut single "Saturday Night" was released on 18 July, followed by a Japanese version, as well as an alternate version with new footage, on 24 July. Crayon Pop's first EP, Crayon Pop 1st Mini Album, was released digitally on 18 July and included both "Bing Bing" and "Saturday Night". The group made their official stage debut the following day on 19 July, performing "Saturday Night" on Mnet's M! Countdown. Crayon Pop's debut did not receive much attention and their album was not commercially successful. Chrome Entertainment's CEO later revealed that the album had depleted all the company's money. Crayon Pop released a digital single album, "Dancing Queen", on 24 October 2012. Besides the title track, it also included a remixed version of "Bing Bing". In order to stand out from other girl groups, Crayon Pop wore tracksuits instead of more feminine clothing. After seeing a performance of "Dancing Queen", Kangin and Shindong of Super Junior praised the song and group, with Shindong saying "I'd love to produce a girl group like them". Crayon Pop was only invited to perform on music shows three times, and they were not able to have a typical promotion cycle. As a result, they took to the streets and promoted "Dancing Queen" with guerrilla performances, which often took place in extremely cold weather. Chrome Entertainment also produced a reality web series about the group, titled Crayon Pop TV; the season opened with a live Google+ Hangout on 30 December. Through these activities, Crayon Pop developed a loyal fanbase, especially of "uncle fans" called "Pop-jeossi" (from the Korean word ajeossi). 2013: Success in Japan, "Bar Bar Bar" and rising popularity Crayon Pop returned to Japan and held a mini-concert on 6 January 2013 in Shibuya, Tokyo. Tickets went on sale on 11 December 2012, and sold out in less than an hour. As a result of considerable demand from fans unable to purchase tickets, Chrome Entertainment announced that another Japanese concert would be held at a later date, and a second mini-concert was staged in Osaka on 22 February. On 19 May, a third mini-concert was held in Shibuya, Tokyo. On 25 January, Crayon Pop made an official comeback on KBS' Music Bank with the remixed version of "Bing Bing", which included a popping dance break to Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" instead of the original rap verse. They had a "delinquent schoolgirl" concept with new choreography, and wore tracksuits or school uniforms with tracksuit pants. On 8 June, Crayon Pop performed a preview version of their new song "Bar Bar Bar" live for the first time. For this comeback, they wore scooter helmets, polo shirts, and tracksuit pants with skirts. The unusual dance featured choreographed jumping. A story version music video was uploaded to YouTube on 13 June, a week before the song's digital release on 20 June. Following the release of a dance version music video on 23 June, Crayon Pop drew interest due to their unique stage outfits and choreography. As of January 2015, this music video has more than 24 million views on YouTube. Crayon Pop's rising popularity also brought them criticism. Netizens accused the group of being affiliated with the right-wing website Ilbe after Way used the phrase nomu nomu (노무노무) on Twitter. This phrase was popularized on Ilbe and was used to criticize former president Roh Moo-hyun. It was then discovered that Chrome Entertainment's CEO previously mentioned the website on Twitter. CEO Hwang responded by saying he was registered on many popular online communities, including Ilbe, in order to gather information about singers and girl groups. He also stated that Way's phrase was an example of aegyo and she was not even aware of the website. However, the controversy continued and several of the group's scheduled events were cancelled after criticism from the public. Online auction company Auction stopped broadcasting its new TV commercial featuring Crayon Pop after widespread customer complaints. The controversy resurfaced in January 2014 after Ellin allegedly used the Ilbe hand sign, but Chrome Entertainment explained that Ellin was forming the letter "E" with her hand, and all the Crayon Pop members have alphabet hand signs that signify their names. As "Bar Bar Bar" went viral, it began to climb the Korean digital music charts, eventually reaching the upper positions of most major real time chart listings. It managed to stay at the top of ''Billboard'''s Korea K-Pop Hot 100 chart for more than a month, and ranked number 1 for the first time eight weeks after release. "Bar Bar Bar" solidified its viral status when a parody video was aired on a segment of SNL Korea on 13 August. That same day, it was announced that Crayon Pop had signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment, who were inspired by the groups' creativity and uniqueness and saw their global market potential. Crayon Pop scored their first music show win when "Bar Bar Bar" won first place on Music Bank on 30 August, beating EXO's "Growl". On 9 September, a "Global Version" music video was released ahead of Crayon Pop's second mini album, The Streets Go Disco, which was released on 26 September under the Sony Music label. This album consisted of their four previous singles and remixes of those songs. A music video for the title track, "Dancing Queen 2.0", was released along with the album. Due to Crayon Pop's increased popularity, they had more opportunities to perform. On 27 July, they held their first mini-concert in South Korea, where they performed "I'm Beautiful" for the first time. The group performed in China for the first time on 9 August at the 23rd Qingdao International Beer Festival in Qingdao. On 25 August, they performed in the United States for the first time at KCON, which was hosted at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. On 30 October, Crayon Pop held a solo concert titled 1st POPCON in Seoul. As a token of appreciation, the concert was free to attend and 100%, My Name, Bumkey and The SeeYa appeared as special guests. The concert was broadcast on MBC Music on 12 November. Crayon Pop held another solo concert, 2nd POPCON in Tokyo, on 15 November at Zepp DiverCity, Tokyo with more than 2,000 fans, 30 media outlets, and 200 representatives in the music industry in attendance. Also due to the success of "Bar Bar Bar", the group was able to move from their small row house in Nonhyeon-dong to a luxury "villa" apartment. In November, Sony Music sponsored a week-long trip to Sydney, Australia. While in Sydney, Crayon Pop held two performances and fan signing events. They also appeared on several Australian TV shows, including SBS PopAsia, and did a guerrilla performance in front of the Sydney Opera House. On 22 November, Crayon Pop collaborated with Norwegian duo, Ylvis, to perform a special stage at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong. Crayon Pop received their first major award, Best New Female Artist, while Ylvis won the International Favorite Artist award. Crayon Pop received many other awards throughout the awards season, including the Hot Trend Award at the MelOn Music Awards, Artist of the Year on KBS Song Festival, New Rising Star at the Golden Disk Awards, the New Artist Award at the Seoul Music Awards, and the Hot Trend Award at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards. Crayon Pop released a Christmas single, "Lonely Christmas", on 26 November. The music video was released on 1 December and featured costumes designed by Gu Donghyun on OnStyle's Fashion Killa. They had their comeback stage on M! Countdown on 5 December, and promotion continued through the end of the month. The song peaked at number 12 on the Gaon Digital Chart and was number 1 on the Social Chart for four weeks in a row. 2014: "Uh-ee", Lady Gaga tour and Strawberry Milk debut In January 2014, Crayon Pop recorded a Korean-language version of "Everything Is Awesome" for the Korean dub of The Lego Movie, which was released theatrically in South Korea on 6 February. On 5 February, veteran rock singer Kim Jang-hoon collaborated with Crayon Pop and released "Hero" for the Korea Firefighters Project, in dedication to firefighters who risked their lives to help others. The entire profits of the song were donated to the families and children of firefighters who had died in the line of duty. Crayon Pop and Kim Jang-hoon (called "Cray-Hoon Pop") held a free concert at the Ajou University Gymnastics Stadium in Suwon on 16 February. The concert also featured a performance by Crayon Pop's labelmates, K-Much. Approximately 3,500 people attended the concert, including municipal officials, firefighters, and bereaved family members of firefighters. Crayon Pop and Kim Jang-hoon held a second surprise concert the next day at Gangnam M Stage, Seoul. Crayon Pop performed as the opening act for Hunan TV's Lantern Festival Program on 14 February, marking their debut on a television show in Mainland China. On 23 March, Crayon Pop held their first fan meeting in Hong Kong, which was attended by more than 1,000 fans and more than 70 media outlets. On 21 March, American pop star Lady Gaga announced on her Twitter account that Crayon Pop would be opening her upcoming ArtRave: The Artpop Ball in twelve cities across North America from 26 June to 22 July, along with a link to the music video of their viral hit "Bar Bar Bar". Lady Gaga had asked Crayon Pop to open all 29 concerts in North America, but they only agreed to one month because they needed to work on their first full-length album. The album, which was originally planned to be released in June, was delayed because of the Lady Gaga concert tour. Crayon Pop's sixth single, "Uh-ee", was released on 1 April. The music video had more than one million views on YouTube in one day, and featured cameos from DJ DOC's Kim Chang-ryeol, Bumkey, and comedian Yoon Sung-ho. For this comeback, Crayon Pop wore hanbok-inspired clothing: outfits made of ramie cloth, bandanas, and gomusin (traditional rubber shoes). The song was written by Kang Jin Woo of Dumb & Dumber, the producer team behind Crayon Pop's first three singles. Crayon Pop had a showcase on 29 March and had their first comeback stage on 3 April on Mnet's Global M! Countdown. "Uh-ee" had been ruled unfit for broadcast by KBS because the Japanese word in the lyrics was "a vestige of Japanese imperialism", so a modified version was performed on Music Bank. Crayon Pop released a video dance lesson for "Uh-ee" on 2 April, showing the most notable points of their quirky choreography, including the "chicken leg" dance. The song peaked at number 8 on Billboard's K-Pop Hot 100 and number 10 on the Gaon Digital Chart before promotion prematurely ended due to the [[Sinking of the MV Sewol|sinking of the motor vessel Sewol]] on 16 April. On 3 May, Crayon Pop returned to the United States and performed at the Korean Music Festival, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The group performed in Indonesia for the first time on 2 June at the Asian Dream Cup in Jakarta. On 21 June, Chrome Entertainment held a concert titled Chrome Happy Concert in Cheongju. The concert ended with a performance of "Bar Bar Bar", with the other Chrome artists joining Crayon Pop on the last verse. On 20 June, Crayon Pop released their first soundtrack single, "Hey Mister", for the drama Trot Lovers. The disco-pop dance track played during the closing credits of the drama. Choa made her acting debut in High School: Love On on 11 July, and on 26 September, Crayon Pop released the single "C'mon C'mon" for the drama's soundtrack. From 26 June to 22 July, Crayon Pop was the opening act for Lady Gaga's ArtRave: The Artpop Ball concert tour in Milwaukee, Atlantic City, Boston, Montreal, Buffalo, Toronto, Chicago, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. They were the second Korean act to perform as an opening act for Lady Gaga, the first being Lee Jung-hyun in 2009. For each of the thirteen concerts, they were on stage for thirty minutes, and performed all six of their singles while the music videos played behind them on projection screens. On 11 July, while in Chicago, Crayon Pop performed "Bar Bar Bar" on the WGN Morning News. On 22 July, Crayon Pop held a fan meeting in Los Angeles; this was their first fan meeting in the United States. On 3 August, after returning to South Korea, Crayon Pop celebrated the second anniversary of their debut with members of their fan club. On 24 August, Crayon Pop held their first mini-concert in Taiwan at the Taipei International Convention Center in Taipei. About 1,200 people attended the concert. After Crayon Pop's full-length album was indefinitely delayed, their first subgroup, Strawberry Milk, was announced. The subgroup, consisting of Choa and Way, released their first mini album on 15 October. On 4 October, Crayon Pop took part in the First Chrome Family in Japan Concert in Shinagawa, Tokyo. At this concert, it was announced that Crayon Pop would make their Japanese debut in 2015. On 7 October, it was announced that Crayon Pop had signed with Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and a mini album, Pop! Pop! Pop!, was released in Japan on 19 November. The album includes three previously unreleased tracks: EDM remixes of "Bar Bar Bar" and "Uh-ee", and "Bbyong Song", a new song written by Song Ji Hoon of Dumb & Dumber. In its first week of release, the album ranked number 48 on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart and was number 3 on the Tower Records Japan weekly K-pop albums chart. Crayon Pop held three mini-concerts in Toyosu and Shibuya, Tokyo on 6 December to promote the album. On 16 November, Crayon Pop performed at the Pop Idol 2014 Asian Performing Arts Awards Concert in Shanghai, China. The concert was held at the Shanghai Stadium to an audience of more than 80,000 people. In October, Crayon Pop was chosen as public relations ambassadors by the Asian Injury Prevention Foundation and Save the Children to help promote the 7% Project, a nationwide campaign in Thailand for increasing motorcycle helmet use among children. The highlight of the campaign was a mini-concert, Crayon Pop Live in Bangkok, held outside the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre on 23 November to an audience of more than 1,000 people. This concert officially launched the 7% Project and was Crayon Pop's first performance in Thailand. During their three-day stay in Bangkok, Crayon Pop also participated in a news conference about the campaign, attended by more than 50 media outlets, and appeared on Rueng Lao Chao Nee, the most popular morning television program in Thailand. The first Chrome Family project, a single album titled 2014 Chrome Family – A Very Special Christmas, was released digitally on 3 December. The single, "Love Christmas", featured all the Chrome Entertainment artists, including Crayon Pop. On 2 January 2015, it was announced that Crayon Pop will return in late February with a dance song by hitmaker Shinsadong Tiger. Musical style Crayon Pop's music is often described as electro-pop and disco-pop dance music with addictive and repetitive lyrics and melodies. Their first single, "Saturday Night", was a 1980s-inspired "electro-pop dance song with a retro melody". After the release of "Bar Bar Bar", Corynn Smith of MTV called Crayon Pop "a disco-pop K-Pop group that is obviously having a blast" with "bafflingly simple lyrics and unexpected choreography." Pops in Seoul described "Lonely Christmas" as "a dance song with funk and disco sounds", while Billboard magazine noted the song's catchy hook and energetic synths, trumpets and guitars. Crayon Pop's sixth single, "Uh-ee", is a mix of electronic sounds and trot. Chrome Entertainment called the genre "house electronic trot" because it "is composed of fast beats and strong electronic sounds with addictive trot melody". Billboard described the song as having a hyper-techno dance beat that would fit into Dance Dance Revolution, while the dance routine was "more like an intense aerobic workout than a silly dance". Members |- | Geummi | 금미 | Baek Bo-ram | 백보람 | |- | Ellin | 엘린 | Kim Min-young | 김민영 | |- | Choa | 초아 | Heo Min-jin | 허민진 | |- | Way | 웨이 | Heo Min-seon | 허민선 | |- | Soyul | 소율 | Park Hye-kyeong | 박혜경 | |} Spelled Gummi before 2014 Subgroups Strawberry Milk |rr = Ttalgiuyu |mr = Ttalgiuyu }} On 29 September 2014, Chrome Entertainment officially announced the first Crayon Pop subgroup, Strawberry Milk, composed of identical twins Choa and Way. Their debut album, The 1st Mini Album, was released on 15 October, along with a music video for the title track, "OK". Another song on the album, "Let Me Know", was written by Way, who had previously written songs as a member of indie band N.Dolphin. The lyrics are based on the twins' struggle to become singers. Strawberry Milk performed "Let Me Know" for the first time at the First Chrome Family in Japan Concert on 4 October. Their debut showcase was held on 15 October in Cheongdam, Seoul, and their music show debut stage for "OK" was on M! Countdown on 16 October. "OK" was promoted through November on all the major music shows, including The Show, where they were nominated for first place. Discography Crayon Pop discography Korean discography Extended plays * 2012: Crayon Pop 1st Mini Album * 2013: The Streets Go Disco Single albums * 2012: Dancing Queen * 2013: Bar Bar Bar * 2013: Lonely Christmas * 2014: Uh-ee Soundtrack singles * 2014: "Hey Mister" (Trot Lovers OST Part 1) * 2014: "C'mon C'mon" (High School: Love On OST Part 5) Collaboration singles * 2014: "Hero" (with Kim Jang-hoon) * 2014: "Love Christmas" (Chrome Family) Japanese discography Extended plays * 2014: Pop! Pop! Pop! Strawberry Milk discography Extended plays * 2014: The 1st Mini Album Concerts and tours Headlining act * 2013: Crayon Pop First Mini-Concert in Japan (Shibuya, Tokyo) * 2013: Crayon Pop Second Mini-Concert in Japan (Suita) * 2013: Crayon Pop Third Mini-Concert in Japan (Shibuya, Tokyo) * 2013: Crayon Pop First Mini-Concert in Seoul (Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul) * 2013: 1st POPCON in Seoul (Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul) * 2013: 2nd POPCON in Tokyo (Odaiba, Tokyo) * 2014: Crayon Pop First Mini-Concert in Taiwan (Taipei) * 2014: Crayon Pop Live in Bangkok (Bangkok) Opening act * 2014: Lady Gaga's ArtRave: The Artpop Ball (13 shows in 12 cities in the US and Canada) Concert participation * 2014: Chrome Happy Concert in Cheongju (Cheongju). * 2014: First Chrome Family in Japan Concert (Shinagawa, Tokyo). Filmography Crayon Pop filmography Awards and nominations List of awards and nominations received by Crayon Pop References External links * Category:South Korean girl groups Category:South Korean dance music groups Category:K-pop music groups Category:Korean-language singers Category:Musical groups established in 2012 Category:2012 establishments in South Korea